TARGET 8 What if someone gets your Social Security number

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COLUMBIA - Was it the Anthem breach? Target? No one really knows how it happened, but it poses a horrible threat to every American taxpayer regardless of where you live, what you do, or who you know.

This is the story of what happens if someone gets your Social Security number. The scammer doesn't know you, and you don't know them. What happens next is scary and remarkably easy to do. The scammer files a return using a bogus W-2 with your Social Security number and name and collects the refund. If the scammer files before you, you're left with a notice that your refund has already been processed. Then the nightmare begins. How do you sort through the mess?

The IRS predicts crooks will make away with $20 billion in 2015. By 2016, the number is expected to reach $26 billion.

To see the seriousness of the crime and hear what a mid-Missouri taxpayer will do after getting hacked, watch this KOMU Target 8 investigation with Jim Riek.